DONT GET RID OF THE SOUND EFFECTS, I'm good at Sounds FXs, but I suck at Music. Maybe we should we have volunteers that make their own Sound FXs (like me) and the must swear to argeement. Second I'm gonna be have to constantly keep downloading trial versions of sound edit programs to convert my Sound FXs to mp3s

Definatly! It should also save you on some bandwidth, and users could find the sound files they want easier! In my opinion this would be better, and use them like the preloader, maybe, with just a few links from a certain page to the direct zip file.

Tom, what a simple user can create ? What kind of sounds ? OK. He could fart, laugh, scream and etc. to his microphone. Would we use this sound to our flash cartoons ? No ! Yeah, more than 90 % of all submited sound were stolen, but tehy were damn good.
I agree that all sounds should be stored in MP3 format.

Newgrounds is a place for flash games and cartoons. i dont think the flash portal really has a place on this site. it would just eat up bandwidth. there are a million other sites users can and have gotten sounds from. i say just get rid of the audio portal all together. even if there were a few good sound effects, doesnt mean everyone would need em. if anything, just cut it down to a few zip files. i dont really see the audio portal as necessary or helpful. SAVE OUR BANDWIDTH!

Why don't you SEPERATE LOOPS and FULL LENGTH SONGS? Loops are in WAV format and have a LENGTH Limit....While SONGS have a length Minimum and MUST be in Mp3 format...Why don't you also sepearte them on the menu (somehow).

I noticed that Mp3 tend to be larger in size compared to WAVS when it comes to Short Sounds or loops...BUT WHEN YOU COME TO SONGS....

Well, I think that you're definitely going in the right direction by deleting the stolen/un-original sound effects that other users have been uploading to the audio portal. The same applies for the music loops/snippits.

I think the idea of having 'pre-packaged' .ZIP files of sound effects would be a better idea since you could just put a whole slew of similar sound effects into one neat little document. (Gunshots.ZIP, Explosions.Zip, Doorsopening.ZIP, you get the idea)

As for the .WAV and .MP3 issue, I think it's ultimately up to the users to shoulder this problem. Submitting .WAV files are going to eat up space in the audio portal very quickly whereas .MP3 files will cut down on the space used.

Perhaps you could even assist the users who want to submit original sound effects / music to places on the web where they can read about the resources and/or programs which will allow them to convert .WAV files into .MP3 files such as "RazorLAME".

At 3/6/03 05:23 PM, Timm wrote:
Newgrounds is a place for flash games and cartoons.

i dont think the flash portal really has a place on this site. it would just eat up bandwidth.

Does it REALLY eat that much bandwith...WHILE EVERYONE uses the FLASH PORTAL (regulars, assholes, and FLASH MAKERS alike)...THE AUDIO portal is really used by a smaller fraction of those users...mainly the Flash Makers...And THE audio files are relatively maller than Portal submissions!!!

You do ALSO realize that NG was once just a showcase for Tom's Work...

there are a million other sites users can and have gotten sounds from.

And the majority of them SUCK!

i say just get rid of the audio portal all together. even if there were a few good sound effects, doesnt mean everyone would need em.

What about THE MUSIC? There are quite a few original works on here that are pretty good...I actually used them in my flash as opposed to the ones on FLASHKIT...though Calpomatt (on flashkit) is a good artist...

if anything, just cut it down to a few zip files. i dont really see the audio portal as necessary or helpful. SAVE OUR BANDWIDTH!

What about THE BBS? That takes up MOST of our Bandwith! Why not get rid of that...Tanner was for that and so are quite a few other users (discluding myself)! You don't see the AUDIO PORTAL as nessesary...BUT THE BBS is even LESS SO...Not that I'm FOR deleting the BBS...

Of the given choices, I would most appreciate the idea of static zip files, mp3 format only. Though if we were given any choice, I'd say that there's no need for an audio portal at Newgrounds. It's eating up bandwidth that could be put to much better use. This has probably been said before, but since you're looking for a general consensus, I thought I'd say it again ;)

At 3/6/03 11:31 AM, TheShrike wrote:
Screening, yes. But offer an incentive: if you upload crap like copyrighted material, you get experience points deducted, possibly even banned from the site.

That wouldn't work 'cause somebody could accidently submit a sound almost identical to one in a movie and not know or realize it. It would suck to get your account deleted because the sound of your coffee cup touching the table sounds just like Harrison Ford's coffee cup touching the table.

i have a helpfull idea...
maybe limit the entrys with the levels
like only 2 entrys every level
itll help out with the voting because people will want to hurry and go to the next level.
what da yah think?

Just dont let people upload wavs. I've seen a bunch of WAVs in there and it's rediculous to have a 400K sound clip that's 2 seconds long. I have a 150K mp3 that's 9 seconds and is perfect quality. Which I'll upload once my first loop clears.

WAVs are outdated and anybody these days can make an mp3, go with them only.

Hey there,
Well, some good ideas from my front, I hope you like them...

First Issue:
The sound FX issue. You only really have one viable alternative: Have AUDIO portal moderators. Someone to delete things when they find them to not be the creation of the person who uploads them. While this will not deter people to upload content that isn't there's, there is a method to do as such. A warning. In big bold letters:

EXPERIENCE POINTS WILL BE DEDUCTED IF THE MATERIAL YOU ARE UPLOADING IS FOUND NOT TO BE YOURS.

I think with this kind of disclaimer, it will cut down the amount of pirated content to an extreme extent. Plus, with a few 'audio mods', the more clean it can be.

The Second Issue:
.WAV files not previewing right. Yes, this definitely an issue that should be dealt with. Here is one thing you could do - Have the afforementioned Audio Mods convert the WAV to MP3's and replace the wav files. Or, institute an MP3 only mandate.

The Third Issue:
File size. People keep bitching about it. I think that if they have something that is over 500k and they really think it should be allowed, do what you do for FLASH movies, and have them be sent to you to see if it's acceptable to allow the overage. This is just an idea. :) I'm full of 'em.

Oh and you should have a FEATURED ARTIST section in there... oh wait... you do... oh, shoot, it's me! ;)

I think pre-packaged zip files are a great way of helping beginning flash programmers, though more experienced creators will probably opt to use their own custom sounds or something different from the mainstream samples that would be offered in the packages.

At 3/6/03 05:22 PM, sketch0587 wrote:
Dude, you can't assume that EVERYONE on NG has an MP3 player. I'm sure that the majority of users don't have one, so this solution is not very helpful.

I'm going to go on the assumption that the people who will create the FLASH animations that will be on NewGrounds would have an MP3 player. If they can run flash 4, 5, or MX or something of that strain, they are probably going to have a medium to highend computer capable of handling mp3's. The audio section isn't really to groove out to music, it's to find music for your flash animation. Most animators who use flash use MP3's as it compresses better and makes the filesize smaller.

If you nix the sound effects aspect (the music aspect is golden) - you should really consider at least putting up some links to easily find sound effects:
findsounds.com (for example) Even if you don't, there should be a "If you can't find what you're looking for here..." bit.